The Darkness Within
by That Hopeless Romantic
Summary: Ancient secrets hide in the deepest of shadows, secrets that will affect the fate of man-kind, and the role that Shinji will play in it. Please Read & Review
1. The Bite

A/N: This fic heralds my return to writing after a very long absence. It hasn't been pre-read so there's a good….well…great chance that it has some horrible grammar, and some extremely obvious errors. The ending was written much later in the night than the beginning (same applies to the middle) so it also may deteriorate some there. Enough bitching about my in-eptitude. There has been at least one fic I know of like this (and you prob won't figure out what this is until next chapter) but I plan to take this a different way than that one. Enough ranting. I hope you enjoy the fic

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_Darkness conceals many things, but also opens the eyes to another world_  
_– Author Unknown

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The night. For many, it was a time of fear, fear of the un-known and the un-seeable. For a long time, Shinji Ikari was one of those people, one of those who retreated under the covers after the sun had finished it's daily sojourn across the heavens. Now, Shinji feared nothing, for after all, what did one fear when they knew they were doomed already?

Shinji Ikari made his way back towards his small apartment, where the wrath of two women awaited him. Misato, worried about his safety, and Auska, worried about her dinner. Held up after-school with cleaning, he meandered down the perfectly straight streets of Tokyo 3, not exactly with any due haste. He knew he was going to be screamed at, so why hurry it up. He will get there when he gets there, and no sooner than that. The street lights formed little pools of light, islands of brightness. The almost full moon tinting every thing silver. Shinji walked head down, watching his shadow perform crazy rotations on the ground, as he moved under the actinide white light of the lamps. He did not see the bottle fly out of the shadows, nor did he see much of anything after it.

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Racing from his current home, Kagi Ryogi, Section 2 extraordinaire, promptly fell over the small concrete stairs, his pants still at half mast around his knees. 

"That's the last time I challenge Maya to a drinking contest" he muttered to himself, fumbling with his belt "She must be some sort of Android sent back in time to show me up" Shaking his head, before realizing that in his current state, shaking his head was NOT the best of ideas. Dragging himself upright, the un-shaven man glanced at his watch, wincing at the numbers displayed. "Lets hope old man Gendo isn't watching the clock to closely this evening" he sighed, buckling his belt around his waist.

With a colossal groan, Kagi slowly gained forward momentum, heading down the street towards the general direction of the Katusragi residence, where his quarry was currently stationed, cooking probably. Or so he thought. With a loud trill, his Nerv personnel locator device flashed a proximity alert across its orange interface. Shinji was close. TOO close.

_What the hell is going on? _Kagi thought. _That boy oughta be cooking up a storm right about now, not lurking in some alley._

Kagi picked up the pace, his ears pricked for the sound of anything un-usual. His change from lay-about to super-spy was perceptible, like the creases falling out of a shirt. The locator kept increasingly informing him that he was closing the gap between his location and that of the boy he was assigned to be guarding.

He began to make out muffled noises coming from the closest alley, the one corresponding to the read out on the tracker. This was not looking good. There was ten metres till he had line of sight…..six……..two….and then he saw.

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Shinji felt each blow raining down on his body, but they didn't hurt, as if he was merely watching himself get pummeled. He felt a dull crump, one of his ribs must've broken. A size 11 cleat to the chest will do that to you. He knew that he was going to die, and felt comforted. Soon the pressure will lift, and no more worries will rattle around his skull. It will. All. End.

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Kagi pulled out his NERV issue side-arm, and checked the breach. Nothing. A dim recollection of a extremely dangerous drinking game. There was no time to find his other clip. Still moving Kagi Ryogi tossed his gun aside, and removed his neck-tie. 

"Desperate times call for desperate measures" he muttered, quickly approaching the gang of thugs assaulting Shinji, the burly men to busy inflicting pain to notice the un-shaven man's approach.

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Shinji felt his consciousness nearing his body….the dull ache he felt quickly blossoming into the true pain that had been inflicted. 

_"So this is God's little joke huh? Making me feel pain this one last time before I go into his embrace, recompense for all the pain I've avoided and ignored...fine, just get it over with you bastard" _Shinji thought, as the images grew sharper and more in-focus

Even though he was in a lot of pain, Shinji noticed that the blows had stopped, and the thugs who had been intent on killing him were now busy with something else, and Shinji dragged himself onto his elbow to see more clearly. There was a large black….beast, in between him and the group of men. It looked like a dog….no, it looked like a wolf, if wolves had fur darker than the void between the stars. It was massive, standing just under chest height. Its growl was a low bass rumble felt, more than heard, and seemed to trigger thoughts of a bygone age where man was hunted, the darkness bringing forth swift death for any cave man foolish enough to venture into it. Steam issued forth from its slightly open maw, high-lighting the long ivory teeth that were easily two inches long

The thugs tentatively step towards the animal, and after no apparent reaction from it, one of them charged at it, a baseball bat raised high above his head. Bad move. Quicker than Shinji's beleaguered eyes could follow, the beast rushed forward, and with a brutal bite removed most of the mans neck. A haze of blood covered everything, including Shinji. The dead man fell. He looked surprised, as if he thought he was invincible. The other men screamed in rage and rushed the creature as one man, weapons at the ready.

The fighting was intense, but brief. The men only managed to land a few blows before being taken down by the wolf-like creature. The bodies were sprawled everywhere. All of them were very evidently dead. The beast stood there panting, still looking on edge. Scanning for more enemies. Blood matted its dark coat, dripping off its snout.

_"This animal saved me_" Shinji thought "_But why?"_

Shinji Ikari slowly reached out a hand, wanting to touch the animal which had saved his life, wanting to make a connection, or just checking to see if it was real, he didn't quite know. His cautious hand almost touched the animals black fur, but quicker than he could react the beast snapped around and bit down hard on Shinji's out stretched hand. Shinji felt his arm grow cold in the animal's mouth, and felt that coldness spread through his body like a silver mist. All Shinji could do was stare deep into the animals blood red eyes. The chill that had spread through his body now seeped slowly up his neck, creeping into his brain. He slumped backwards, and the last thing he saw was the wolf, with a strangely human look of concern on its features, red eyes melting into yellow.

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END CHAPTER 1 

A/N: So what did you think? Good? Bad? Be sure to review and give me some good feedback please. I'm also looking for a pre-reader, and if possible, a co-author. I hope to keep the updates thick and fast (one a week hopefully) and if I had a co-author, it would progress so much more. Looking forward to next time

- That Hopeless Romantic


	2. Consciousness

_The Dark Side of the moon often Shines the Brightest._

_-Author Unknown

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The room swam into focus, the blur in front of him resolving into the face of Kaji Ryouji, eyes creased with concern.

"Ka- Kaji…? What happened? Where am I?" mumbled Shinji, his mind still foggy. The apartment he was in, while spacious, was fairly spartan, with what appeared to be simple, but comfortable furnishings. A bookshelf was nearby, with, of all things, a number of old leather bound volumes, well read and cared for. There was also a number of very odd, almost arcane carvings on the wall along with what looked like a collection of ancient weaponry. Kaji's voice interrupted his observations.

"Welcome to my humble abode, Shinji. As to what happened, it seems you'd gotten into a bit of trouble. I found you unconscious in an alley. Looks like someone or someones had worked you over pretty well." Kaji's expression turned stern. "Now, would you mind explaining what you were doing in that neighborhood, and at that hour? Or didn't you realize that you practically were carrying a neon sign saying 'mug me' by doing so?"

Shinji flushed, lowering his eyes. "I had clean up duty after class. I 'd a backlog of homework, so I figured I'd stay a bit longer to clear some of it up, where I didn't have to worry about being screamed at or slapped. Guess I lost track of time. When I finally realized how late it was, I tried to make up some time by cutting through some side streets. Last time I ever try doing something like that again" he lamented. Kaji, chuckling sympathetically, handed him a glass of something. Whatever it was, it sent quite a rush through his system, revitalizing and refreshing him almost instantly.

"This is great! Can I have a refill…and what is it?"

"Ah, that's a little something I brew on the side. Old family recipe. Katsuragi swears by it, especially after she's been on a real bender." Kaji rolled his eyes, drawing a laugh from his young charge. Handing him a fresh glass, he motioned for the young pilot to continue.

"Next thing I know, I'm getting slammed against the wall and getting pounded. Funny thing though, I don't even feel bruised." He frowned, pausing to organize his thoughts, and missed the narrowing of Kaji's eyes at this. "The weirdest thing though, is that in the middle of this, a big black…dog, wolf, whatever, tore into the thugs. Then it bit me, and I blacked out." He looked at the hand, expecting to see a large wound. Instead, there was a red scar in the shape of a bite. The redness was already beginning to fade and the scar was starting to look like it had always been there. In fact, there wasn't a bruise or wound anywhere on his body!

"Man, this is just too freaking weird! What the hell happened to me? I couldn't have dreamed all that…?"

Kaji sighed. This was going to be hard for Shinji to hear. The poor kid had already been through 5 different kinds of hell this year, and now he'd have to deal with this too! He started to speak, but Shinji's gasp interrupted him.

"9:00! OH, SHIT! I was supposed to make dinner tonight! Asuka's gonna stomp me into the floor for this! Gotta go! Thanks for everything Kaji!" With that, Shinji darted to and then through the door, running as if a demon was at his heels.

"DAMN! I'm getting too old for this" the unshaven man growled in exasperation. As he lit a cigarette, the light from the match was reflected, mirror fashion from Kaji's now amber eyes. Taking a long drag from the cancer stick, he sprawled out on the sofa.

"He'll be back", he stated, gazing knowingly off into the direction the young pilot had fled.

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A/N: Kudos to NateGold, who co-authored this chapter, and to those who reviewed the last one. I'm kinda disapointed that most of you got what was happening in the first chapter, but i guess i wasn't being all to subtle either. For those of you who are still in the dark, wait around and all will be revealed. Read And Review please, so you can help shape this fic.

Cheers  
-That Hopeless Romantic


	3. Changes

_-Crushing Despair Clawing At My Chest, A Black Hole of Despair Filled With Burning Sadness._

_Author Unknown_

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Auska and Misato stared. And stared. And stared some more. Then, for some more variety, they stared. The object of their extreme attention was a one Shinji Ikari, who, for the lack of a better word, was "wolfing" down his food. And Auska's. And Misato's. Face down to his plate he shoveled in food as fast as he could. He reached out for his glass, which shattered in his hand. This made him look up

"S- Sorry" he apologized, face red with embarrassment. Auska simply pushed her glass towards him, still staring. This seemed to break Misato out of her reverie.

" cough So...erm cough where were you this afternoon?" mumbled Misato, clearly fishing for conversation.

"I was cleaning after-school, and since I was already running behind on time, I decided to do some of my homework on the computers" he replied, through a partially chewed mouthful of food. "Sorry about not cooking for you guys, but my homework is really piling up, and I don't want to get into trouble" he continued, looking abashed. He also left out his encounter with Kagi, he himself didn't really understand what had happened. "I hope the take-out I got will be enough" he added, starting to return to his food.

"Well I suppose it would be, if we got any" Auska remarked, finally joining the conversation.

"What do you mean, 'If you get any' I bought loads, to make up for missing dinner" Shinji said, looking at the table. His was the only plate with food, the others were still sparkling clean.

"Wahhh! Sorry! I was just so hungry I didn't notice that you guys hadn't got any" he apologized, bowing as well he could whilst sitting down.

"It looks like our wittle Shinji is growing up!" gushed Misato, dragging Shinji across the table into a bone crushing hug. Auska just stared, suspicious.

"mmphmlpm" said Shinji, his face smothered in Misato's ample……assets.

Misato must of realized that she was slowly killing her play toy, and released Shinji from her grasp, who slid onto the floor, gasping

"I'm going to have to watch myself now, with a MAN in the house" she leered, bending over Shinji in an altogether suggestive pose.

"I wouldn't worry about that Misato, he'll never be a man, not like Kagi" added Auska,swooning at the thought of her be-stubbled heart-throb, overly so.

Normalcy re-established itself in the apartment, as Shinji cleaned the dishes, and made lunches for the next day. Auska watched TV. Misato got drunk. The norm. Shinji dryed the last plate, and turned to place it back in the cupboard. From here he could see Auska sprawled on the ground in front of the sofa. She looked graceful even when she was at her most relaxed. Shinji thought he could stand here for hours, just looking at her. It made him….happy. That was no easy task. He suddenly realized that Auska was looking back at him.

"What are you looking at Third Child?" Auska questioned, an angered look on her face.

"No-Nothing, Auska" Shinji stammered in reply.

Auska simply rolled her eyes, and turned her attention back to the television screen. Shinji sighed, and headed to his room. He paused with his hand on the handle. His new scar decorated his hand, looking as old as him. It was the only remnant of the strange events which had happened earlier this afternoon. He shook his head, clearing his mind. All of this will seem clearer after a nights sleep, he thought to himself, as he walked into his room and closed the door behind him.

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A/N: eek, sorry, i noticed some huge mistakes when i just read this, but I AM working on the next chapter...really! A big Sorry to NateGold, who no longer is pre-reading for me after artistic differences. Other than that, I better get back to work writing the next chapter. (whips a room full of chimps on type-writers). Later. ARGH...why wont quickedit let me put in asterix's'es...ahhhhhh WHYYYY! 


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